The new corona wave continues to hit Barcelona, which this morning (Thursday) identified three new contenders: Serginio Dest, Filipe Coutinho and Abda were found positive and joined the other seven players already diagnosed as verified, with the team’s hospital count rising to ten in total just three days into the league game against Mallorca .
Meanwhile, Osman Dembele, who is included in Xavi’s squad list, continues to employ Barcelona and the Catalan media amid an explosion between his agent and the club’s management following the demand for a € 40 million-a-season salary and a € 20 million signing grant. “Sport” wrote that Dembele was “more outside than inside” and Barcelona’s only hope for his stay rests on the Frenchman’s desire to continue wearing the Blaugrana uniform.
Catalonia understand that the player is in a position of power, as Barça need to renew his contract in order to stabilize in terms of financial fair play and register the new acquisition Fran Torres. According to recent reports, Dembele has reached an agreement with Juventus, with quite a few other teams also mentioned as candidates to take him in for free with the end of his contract this summer, but Barcelona expect the Frenchman to take the reins in talks and express a desire to stay.
In the context of Dembele, Gerard Pique clashed last night with a former Barcelona board member when he stung him on Twitter. This is Tony Freisha, one of the men of the previous club president, the infamous Joseph Bartomeu. Freisha, who was a presidential candidate in the last election, responded to the issue of Dembele’s excessive demands when he tweeted: “That’s how the players are. I’m not surprised, it’s unreasonable to think a player would agree to pay cuts to allow for a strengthening of his position.” Pique, in response, implicitly blamed Frisha and wrote: “Do not generalize and say ‘this is how the actors are.’ I can equally argue that ‘this is how the candidates are, they do not pay their campaign employees’.”
Meanwhile, Albero Murata’s name surfaced this morning in the AS as a candidate to bolster Barcelona’s prowess in January, and later Mundo Deportivo detailed how the Catalans might execute the deal financially: Murata, it will be recalled, belongs to Atletico Madrid who owe 40 million euros To Barcelona as part of the Antoine Griezmann deal made in the summer. Juventus, the striker’s current club, have agreed a two-year loan deal with Atletico for 55 million euros, of which only 15 have been paid so far.